By Nouns, Countable or uncountable

Hi, I was told that a mass noun can be used as uncountable when you use to refer to it as a substance and a variable as uncountable when refer to it generally. When you refer something like meat, butter and shampoo as a substance, does a person using it as such use just like a real piece meat,...

Grammar Geek wrote: Well, wait, let's not answer too quickly. Certainly you can say "a willingness" -- IF you then qualify it with what type of willingness. A willingness to succeed A willingness to provide the necessary funds etc. However, you can't just say "He showed a willingness"...

Hi, Different than those who rely on a dictionary to find out whether a particular word is a countable or uncountable noun, do native speakers rely their own knowledge of word usage that naturally stem from years of usage? I think if you look at some dictionaries from America, for instance, I...

CalifJim wrote:Not sure why you added this. Yes, it is possible to say one evening or an evening when evening is countable, but if we recognize that in the subject sentence evening is non-countable, and the problem is the, not a or one, I don't see where the logic is going. the is possible...

Most native speakers (except for linguists and teachers of ESL) never think about "countable" and "uncountable" nouns. I had never heard those terms until I started tutoring ESL students (I was a volunteer; I never had formal training to teach.) A young child might make the mistake of saying...

Yoong Liat wrote:The opposite of 'most' is 'least'.Hi YL,Actually, I was taught that it depends on whether the noun is countable or uncountable:less money - fewer friends.As I said earlier, "the fewest pages" doesn't sound good to me. However, from what I've studied, I would feel compelled to...

Hoa Thai wrote:First, thank you for your reply. Now if you can help me a bit further, I would appreciate very much.If advice is an uncountable abstract noun, then advices must be wrong, right? (Yesterday, my father gave me his advice. Today, my mother gives me hers. I don't like their two advice...

«So I thought about the possibility the word decoration could follow one of these 'exceptions to the rule'.» They'll be no longer exceptions if you take into acount that a noun can be either countable or uncountable. There are no "items" of water (not counting molecules!) or...

Hi, I think a normal premise behind making of a countable noun out of an uncountable noun is to make or distinguish into types. Can it be applied to proper nouns? She found a way to help little Bobby. Here, little isn't good enough to make Bobby into types, but this might do: She found a...

Hi, I think a normal premise behind making of a countable noun out of an uncountable noun is to make or distinguish into types. Can it be applied to proper nouns? She found a way to help little Bobby. Here, little isn't good enough to make Bobby into types, but this might do: She found a...